The Grey Dawn
by Alucardh
Summary: Harry recognizes that if he is going to keep saving the world, he really needs some help getting his shit together. Drawing on aid from all sides of his increasingly beleaguered world, it's time to become the Boy Who Lived. Feat Neville, Susan, Luna, and all your other favorites.
1. Chapter 1: Introspection

Disclaimer- Are Sirius, Remus, and Tonks alive? Did Harry make friends with Neville in first year? Did Tom Riddle become Minister of Magic and utilize his massive power and wealth base to do whatever he wanted with magical Britain? If the answer to any or all of the above is no, I probably wasn't responsible for the HP universe being brought into creation.

Chapter 1: Introspection

Harry sighed. It had been one hell of a week. If he wanted to be honest with himself, it had been a hell of a year. And if he dug really deep, truth be told, his life had been pretty much crazy since that particularly absurd eleventh birthday. The moment when he had found out he was a wizard was just as fresh in his mind now, approaching five years later. Hagrid knocking down the door, the crowd at the pub, the shock of learning about Voldemort's brother wand…although that hadn't really sunk in, hadn't meant that much at the time. Back before he had faced the man and learned what evil really meant.

Damn, his mind was wandering again. Trapped back with his relatives, isolated in his room with just his melancholy to keep him company, it was even more difficult to focus than normal. But one thought kept occurring to him, an iteration on the basic thought that had haunted him since Cedric's death…he knew it was all his fault, a natural deduction from the undeniable fact that he was the common thread between so many tapestries of tragedy. He knew that his friends would argue, would put up a cheerful front, but time and time again, it had been made abundantly clear that it was his job to make things happen. Not that all his decisions were good decisions; going after the Stone had, in retrospect, been an incredibly foolish thing to do. The only reason the headmaster's trap had ever been in danger of failing had been his presence. But even Hermione and the troll…the teachers had been substantially too late, she would likely have died if he hadn't sought her out. And then second year, his actions alone had saved Ginny from the diary. And that kept happening up until just a few weeks ago, when without proper information, he had once again rushed off, believing he was on the right path, because precedent indicated that making rash, immediate decisions and then fulfilling them to the best of his ability was the correct path.

But now Sirius was dead, Remus probably hated him, Snape was probably gloating in the dungeons, and he would never have a family. Oh sure, the Weasley family was nice enough, but after fourth year, he would never truly trust Ron again, and the only others in that family he felt any real connection to were the twins. He suspected, and he hated it of himself, that some part of Mrs. Weasley would be pleased to see Sirius gone because it meant that the man would no longer stop her from mothering him, and that annoyed him more than he could say. Once upon a time, he would have called the Hogwart's staff his family, but each of them in turn had proved their inability to fulfill the basic expectation he had for them, his safety.

Harry knew that, at least in theory, he had family remaining on the Black side. Sirius had mentioned once or twice that Tonks was somehow related to him, though he didn't know anything about her parents. And after a tip from Neville and some research with Hermione, he had discovered that Draco's mother had apparently been a Black, a cousin of Sirius, who had married into the Malfoy family. That research had led to the startling, and somewhat disturbing, realization that he was also related to Bellatrix Lestrange, who was Draco's aunt. Unfortunately, none of this was terribly helpful, since he doubted that Tonks and her parents really wanted to spend time with him, a total stranger, and he'd rather spend more time under Voldemort's cruciatious than with Draco, let alone Bellatrix. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had been unable to summon the hate to curse her, but part of him quietly hoped to correct for that mistake at some point in the future.

Damn it Harry, focus. Shaking his head, he forced his thoughts back to their original train, the idea that he had been working all afternoon, which seemed to be the culmination of his concerns. When he had first learned of magic, he had thought that this would be the solution to all his problems. Instead, it seemed to be causing a whole new set of problems. But as he looked at it, many of the situations he had found himself in could have been solved by the very magic that started them. Hell, when he had been brought to the graveyard with Cedric, Voldemort had literally taken the time to order the fucking betrayer "Kill the spare". That was enough time to do any manner of things, from tackling Cedric to stunning him to stunning the rat. Instead, he'd stood there and gaped like an idiot. That was completely unacceptable, and it stemmed from a simple fault: his instincts didn't tell him to use magic. He'd grown up without it, learned how to deal with emergency scenarios specifically to save his own hide, without magic. His body memory, his strategy formulation, things he'd been building all his life, were not geared towards magic, but towards surviving the Dursley's and all the trouble they brought to his life. He had assumed that in the magical world, others would be capable of handling the trouble, that he could simply be a student and a wizard, and things would fall into place, because somehow he got it into his head that he deserved it. Well, that had been one hysterically stupid mistake. One that had cost lives. And one that he needed to stop making before he cost the world a more politically or magically important person than a questionably-sane escaped convict or a particularly popular sixth year Hufflepuff.

With that in mind, Harry had come to a decision. He was going to send out a particular piece of mail that could potentially get him in a lot of hot water if it got into the wrong hands. He had a burning question, one that needed answering before any of the ideas that were gradually percolating in his head could come into fruition.

How does the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery work, and how the hell could he get out from under its thumb?

AN:

Howdy folks, been a long time since I uploaded something. 4 years of college, with a heavy dose of game development courses, have more or less sapped all of my free time and creativity.

This final semester had been milder than the others though, and with job and residence locked down starting in June, I have a bit of time to play around with words. Who knows, maybe this time I can actually write regularly for a while. One can hope.

Anyways, I've spent a lot of the last year reading through HP fanfiction. Like…a lot. I think I've read easily several million word count. While I've slowed down as I've cleared through a lot of the easier found content, I've been slowly assimilating the ideas I found and putting together my own thoughts on my take of how to handle this lovely fandom.

This isn't going to be a masterpiece…if one of those is coming, this definitely ain't it. I'm probably going to utilize the occasional annoying cliché, you will likely recognize scenes you liked in other fanfics, as I work through the material bubbling in my head and see how it filters onto paper.

I will say that I'll try my hardest to avoid unnecessary bashing. I don't think Dumbledore or Ron is the devil incarnate, nor will Harry spend half the story mooning over girls. He won't suddenly become a Marauder, a master duelist, or an Unspeakable. Harry is Harry, and will do the best he can to deal with the world he is given using the tools he has in his belt, which aren't many.

Anywho…I'm vaguely hoping to do a chapter a week, maybe more or less frequent we'll see. More likely to do bursts with long breaks than consistency because of academic and personal demands of my time, but one can hope. Probably ~1000 words a chapter, unless I really get inspired.


	2. Chapter 2: Ink in the Wind

Chapter 2: Ink in the Wind

With quick assured movements derived of practice, Harry went to the loose floor panel he had pried up years ago. This was his stash- when his relatives locked his trunk in the cupboard or tried to starve the magic out of him, he kept little things here to keep him going in the dark times. Sometimes it was an apple, sometimes a toy…he took a moment to look at one of his most prized possessions. Old, already yellowing a little from its rather unfortunate residence, his first report card. It had been his reminder for years that, no matter what face he showed the rest of the world, he could be smart. Never again after the Dursley's reaction would he permit his grades to reflect his knowledge, but in that one instance, he had been so proud. The teachers' glowing comments had provided him with pocket-sized proof that he could be worth something to someone.

Shaking the nostalgia away, he grabbed the real purpose for this visit: pen and paper. His quill and ink were locked away, but he doubted the recipient would really care all that much. Neville was, after all, a far cry from Malfoy. The decision to request aid of Neville rather than Hermione had taken a lot of thought. The problem was fundamentally that he knew that owling anything to Hermione was functionally equivalent to owling the Order. And he had no doubt that, if Dumbledore wanted him to be able to use magic outside of school, it would have been taken care of.

The loyal, Gryffindor side of him protested that after all the adventures they had been through together, Hermione was trustworthy. After all, she had gone with him just a few weeks ago to the Ministry, breaking all kinds of rules in the process. But Harry always paid close attention to his friends, for fear they would betray him, and he saw what was really happening in her mind. Hermione had been focused on authorities from day one, from Professor McGonagall to Snape to the Minister to Dumbledore. It would appear from an outside perspective that that confidence was eroding; first year with McGonagall and the Stone, third year with Snape and Sirius, fourth and fifth year with the Ministry. It might be interpreted from the outcome of these events that she was learning how to think independently of these figures, to make her own decisions.

But from what Harry had seen and heard, Hermione merely transitioned all of her belief in authority to the Order, and most of all to Dumbledore. To her, the Order was the ultimate in what was right: the representation of the light to fight the darkness, to bring equality to Muggleborns and all forms of magical creatures…in an odd way Harry suspected that she viewed the Order as rationale that her SPEW attempt had been right all along. Even if Hermione didn't actively show them her mail from him, which he suspected she would, Dumbledore would snatch it right out of her mind and if she knew it happened, she wouldn't protest.

Harry sighed…more nostalgia. His naivety, believing that he was riding valiantly to battle atop a trusty thestral, his knights riding beside him, their trust in him absolute. Shaking his head, he considered the best approach to the letter.

_Dear Neville,_

_I hope this summer has been going well for you. Not much has been happening on my end since well…you know. I hope your Gran wasn't too harsh on you about all that. Since you're probably busy with summer fun, I'll try to be brief. I'm looking for a way to enable myself to practice magic outside the parameters of Hogwarts. Thinking back over the past couple of years…Sirius, Cedric, the basilisk, there are a lot of things that happened that I think I could have done more to prevent if I was more accustomed to magical responses._

_Growing up, I had never heard of magic. I live with relatives who despise the thought of magic, and I was heavily discouraged from thinking about that kind of thing. So now, I find myself struggling to alter my instincts to include appropriate magical responses. I'd like to spend time just using magic for parts of my daily routine, to get used to pulling out my wand and performing a spell when it is time to do something._

_I suppose the most obvious question would be whether you have that kind of freedom, or know people who do. From his bragging, it sounds like Malfoy has always been permitted to use magic at home, whether or not that's accurate is hard to say. On the other hand, you have the Weasleys, I know that they aren't, Mrs. Weasley is very stern about following the rules._

_My second thought, if the one above doesn't pan out, would be what enforces the Statute? How is underage magic detected? I wonder if there might be a clever loophole to be discovered. At least in my case, it'd be something to think about, rather than being stuck in my room all day just remembering…things._

_Regardless, I hope this letter reaches you well, and that I hear back from you soon._

_Harry Potter_

An hour later, Harry smiled at his bird and carefully tied the letter to her leg. He had been able to convince his relatives that he needed her to write letters to the Order and his friends, otherwise they'd have a bunch of wizards checking in on him all the time and they had caved in. Hedwig hooted softly at him, seemingly concerned by his recent, rather mopey behavior, and he smiled and stroked her soft head with his other hand. "Don't worry, girl. We'll work things out. We always do. Wait for a response, even if it takes a while." She barked fiercely before flying out the window. "Godspeed, girl."

AN:

Some chapters will be a bit shorter than others...sorry for the shorter ones. My muse works in mysterious ways and there's no point arguing with her.

This chapter reflects something that will probably happen again; I may distance Harry from canon characters he is close to, but I'll try to offer the rationale behind my decision. He's not just going to suddenly abandon people; the Harry that I'm writing is just less blindly loyal to people. He sees the priorities for those that surround him a little more clearly: Ron and his ambitions, Hermione and her social justice, Dumbledore and his plans for the future. These are not evil people, they just have their own agendas, and Harry knows that he needs to work around those agendas to meet his own. He's not going to hate them for it, just be strategic. You could say that the failure inherent in the trip to the Ministry of Magic was the final straw in opening his pessimistic side to the magical world.

Also, Harry (and other characters) may not sound their age. Problem is, I will freely admit I don't know precisely what a 15 year old (or an 11 year old, for future reference) sounds like. Despite having gotten to and passed both of those ages, I never really spent much time with people my own age, and consequently didn't pick up a number of habits. I try to think about it and emulate what I've seen on the internet and my limited interaction with age-peers, but have patience.

Also, at the risk of annoying some people: the best way to help me improve in that area, as in all others, is to leave a review.


	3. Chapter 3, Grass is Greener

Chapter 3:

Working away in his greenhouse, an early birthday present, the last thing Neville was expecting was a note from Harry. Sure, he was part of the group that went to the Ministry, but he was a hanger-on, a follower, not someone worthy of attention. He would admit it had been nice to get recognition from his Gran, who had been quite proud about the whole thing, but he still didn't think he'd contributed all that much. Shrugging, he asked the owl to meet him at the living room window and went in to wash up a bit.

After taking the note and realizing that…what did Harry call her…Hedgehog? No…Hedgewitch? No…Hedwig, that was it! Anyways, Hedwig was apparently going to wait for a response, so he got her some water and treats before settling down to read and reply. Hmm…oh dear. Harry really knows how to pick the hard ones. The Statute is a tricky subject at best, and the solution to his problem, while it does exist, is really not something one discusses in public or via mail that can be intercepted, since knowledge of it is strictly speaking illegal. That's not to say it isn't well spread, any of the old or wealthy families knows and acts accordingly, but it isn't supposed to be common knowledge. The usual rubbish about infecting the world with Muggleborns and Halfbloods and anyone else who doesn't enjoy the privilege of polishing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's boots.

Sighing, Neville scribbled down a quick reply, before handing it off to Hedwig.

_Harry,_

_Thanks for getting in touch- it's been a great summer. Gran gave me a greenhouse as an early birthday present, so I've been having a lot of fun with that. Will you be free sometime this week? It'd be great to meet up in Diagon Alley if you have time. We could meet at the Leaky Cauldron- just send me a day and time._

_Neville Longbottom_

"It's probably not exactly what he wants to hear, but it's the best I can do. Be safe!" To his surprise, the owl barked, seemingly in acknowledgment, before taking off. Neville shook his head…that was a smart owl.

Harry was surprised when it was only a few hours later that Hedwig, looking decidedly worn out after the round trip journey, appeared at his window sill. Anxiously letting her in and getting her situated, he practically snatched the letter off her leg and read through it. Frowning, he read through it twice more, growing more and more irritated at the apparent dismissal, before it clicked. Scolding himself for doubting a friend, he offered up that Saturday (it was currently Thursday) at noon. Pausing to consider, he decided to bring supplies to stay at the Cauldron over the weekend- he could rent a room for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for sleeping in as well as his chat with Neville. Based on what Neville had to say, he could also maybe pick up some relevant books or materials.

The more he thought about it, the more the idea seemed brilliant. After all, if he could be at Hogwarts nine months out of every year, an extra three days couldn't make a difference. Besides, he would still be thinking of the Privet Drive house as home; as much as he hated it, without Sirius and with his problems with the Weasley's, he really had nowhere else.

With a smile on his face, he wrote down the invitation and gave it to Hedwig, asking her to take it when she felt sufficiently rested. With a yawn himself, he prepared for bed and dreams of what was to come.

AN:

Sorry…this was even shorter. There isn't a whole lot to do with Harry and the Dursley's because he spends all his time moping, planning, thinking, or being yelled at, and those are all pretty binary. I needed a gateway chapter to other things and to connect Neville with Harry, though, and I didn't have a lot of time, so we arrive at this. We'll get to more interesting places shortly, so stay with me :D


	4. Chapter 4, All that Glitters

Chapter 4: Into the Shadows

According to plan, Harry arrived in Diagon Alley via train Friday afternoon. He spoke briefly with Tom, purchasing a room for three nights, before walking out into the hubbub. As always, the alley was pure chaos: potioneers yelling out prices of ingredients, families with little children clamoring for ice cream, officious looking Ministry officials striding about with their noses in the air. He wandered over to Gringott's to see if he could pick up some more money while he was here.

Finding his way through the crowd, he stepped into the building. It amused him that much like Muggle banks, Gringott's was kept a tad chilly, not cold enough to annoy, but enough to make you want to arrange your business and be on your way. The goblins seemed to go out of their way to make it as clear as possible that your presence was not so much welcome as tolerated.

After waiting for a few minutes in line, he found himself facing a teller named Stoneslice, who didn't even look up from the papers he was stamping. Harry coughed nervously before asking whether he could access his vault. Still not looking up, the teller asked for his key. Here, Harry winced, before acknowledging that he did not in fact had one. At this the teller looked up irritably, but when he recognized Harry his whole posture shifted. Where before irritation mixed with disinterest, now skepticism found its way into the mix.

"You're Harry James Potter? What took you so long?"

Harry frowned. "I'm…not sure I understand what you're asking."

The teller scowled. "You were supposed to be here for the Black estate inheritance session two weeks ago. The Chief Warlock asked to represent you but since he has no connection to the Blacks, the family magic wouldn't allow it, and no one else of good will was present."

"Why would it matter that he has no connection to the Blacks?"

The teller hesitated, before replying "There's a couple of reasons it might matter. In this instance, given that this is the will of the head of House Black, there's good odds he's left you that title. You can't represent the Lord Black if you lack Black blood and don't have express consent."

"I'm a Black? I'm related to Sirius?"

The goblin looked surprised before a speculative look crossed its face. "If I told you that you were the Potter heir, would that mean anything to you?"

Harry shook his head. "No…I grew up not even knowing magic existed. I've only really learned about basic spells and potions, no politics or culture."

The goblin nodded firmly. "Come with me, I'm going to arrange a meeting between you and someone who can help you understand what's going on. It would appear Lord Black's death has more repercussions than we had anticipated."

The goblin left his station, to be quickly replaced by another, and brought Harry down an elevator then through an intricate and extensive labyrinth of hallways. Even after voyaging into the cavernous depths of the bank before his first year, he was beginning to realize he had only scraped the surface. The goblin seemingly noticed his awed expression, because it volunteered some information. "What you're seeing now wasn't always a bank; before the 1800's and the last war, this was a great city, a center of commerce between many goblin settlements. We were caught between your Ministry and the Dark Lord of the era, and forced to accept a compromise that heavily favored your people. We abandoned our settlements and our cities, and aside from those who fled abroad, our civilization resettled in its entirety in here. This city had been center of great mines, generating vast quantities of gold, silver, and bronze, and with all of our peoples here, we greatly increased our output of these materials.

But the Ministry feared we would destroy their economy, and so again we changed, becoming a bank modeled after the Gnomic banks of Switzerland. We minted the Galleon, the Sickle, and the Knut, imbuing them with powerful protections against enchantment or interference, and took on the role of regulators of economy and wizarding wealth."

Harry took a deep breath, trying to absorb the onrush of information, before he settled on "You should teach history instead of Professor Binns. You make it a lot more interesting."

The goblin snorted. "Most of your kind would sooner see me dead than teaching their children. We are accepted out of necessity, and our power over your money is the only reason there has not been another war for this long."

Harry laughed. "It would certainly make Fudge's decisions harder, not being able to just pick whatever lines his pockets with more gold."

They arrived at a room with a large round table surrounded by 8 chairs, with tea laid out. The goblin said simply "Wait here, someone will be by shortly."

Nodding, Harry replied "Thank you for your help." The goblin returned the nod sharply before returning the way they had come.

Harry sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and grabbed a biscuit. Half an hour later, an officious looking goblin strode in, saw Harry, and bowed briskly. "Good afternoon, I am Fairthought, I serve as an ambassador between Gringott's and the Ministry. You will be the Potter heir?"

"I guess…that's what Stoneslice, the goblin who brought me here, said. I don't know what it means though, or why I'm it."

The goblin sighed. "This will be a bit of an explanation then, and not something you can necessarily take in all at once. You should have been instructed in this subject from a young age. Normally, for an heir to a family like Black or Potter or Malfoy, the heir is trained in politics and etiquette as soon as he is capable of reading, brought to faction and then Wizengamot meetings as soon as he is capable of understanding, and engages with appropriate and relevant peers at every opportunity to in order to uphold family honor. I believe you are year-mates specifically with the Longbottom and Malfoy heirs, among others. You can be assured that these gentlemen should be, if they aren't already, actively engaged in making connections that will serve them a lifetime in politics."

Harry frowned…that didn't seem right to him. Malfoy spent all his time insulting anyone who wasn't a Slytherin and Neville was too shy to talk to most people, even after a year of DA training. When he expressed this confusion to the goblin, the goblin nodded. "Good, you're paying attention. That is precisely correct. The reason for that is simple: there is no longer balance in the Wizengamot. Ministry politics were designed for a three party system. Split purely into "Light" and "Dark", everything is binary, which means nothing is correct. Political issues are determined by finances rather than debate, because without the third party to force any group to work for a majority, all individuals have to do is line a few pockets to swing votes their way."

"I thought Gringott's generally had a non-interference policy? I believe our professor said something along the lines of, 'The goblins deem it better that the wand-users spill blood amongst themselves without wasting valuable goblin lives in worthless wars over petty concerns'."

"Generally, that is the case. Unfortunately, it came to our attention in the 2nd wizarding war that if a Dark Lord were to gain real control over Britain, we might not be as safe as we'd like to be. Our concerns are two-fold: recent Dark Lords have been increasingly xenophobic, and it is growing increasingly likely that we would have to fight one off, which could damage the nation greatly. Additionally, the non-magicals have progressed rapidly in the past century, driven by their own wars to develop more and more devastating weapons technology, and should the purebloods continue to torture and kill non-magicals at their whim, we foresee increasing likelihood that they will strike back 100 fold, and we don't know that we can shield against a force of that magnitude. In order to prevent such a devastating catastrophe from occurring, I have been authorized to provide you with the information and resources you need to step into the shoes that are waiting for you, should you choose to accept."

"How could I possibly help you? I don't have any power…I mean, I guess I'm the Boy Who Lived, but that's not even for something I did."

"That is a good question, and leads us right into our next topic. When Lord Black's will is opened, we think it more probable that you will receive the Black lordship than the other two primary candidates, the Malfoy and Longbottom heirs, who share your Black blood. You will already have the Potter one when you reach maturity. Should you choose to marry, say, the Bones or Greengrass heir, you would also become heir of that family. If my information is true, you are also connected with the Longbottom heir and the Weasley family. Those families between them have enough seats to establish a faction."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Being the leader of a faction gives you significant political power. Think of the big playmakers of the last century- Albus Dumbledore, Abraxas and Lucius Malfoy, Arcturus Black, Charlus Potter. These are politicians who, in their heyday, had direct or indirect control of enough seats to make sweeping policy changes with a reasonable application of persuasiveness. I understand you are close with Remus Lupin, a known lycanthrope. Imagine the power to make discrimination based on his status illegal. Your godfather, a falsely accused criminal; you could order the trial or retrial of any convict you think might be innocent. If you bring a third party back to the Wizengamot, you could more than just restore balance; you could restore justice. We would both benefit- Gringott's could continue to operate in safety, and you could save the magical world from itself."

AN:

This is a large part of the beauty of JK's realm: she wrote just enough to give us the knowledge that this massive realm of politics, history, and culture exists, but not enough to deny us creative liberty over the vast majority of it. I'm not an enormous politics person, I probably won't spend thousands of words describing Wizengamot court procedures or legal systems, but I do think it's important to touch on periodically because the Ministry is combined legal, judicial, and executive system and pretty much controls everything.

Also, just fyi, don't assume everything you hear in dramatic speeches to be precisely accurate.

I'm not sure whether there is any evidence within canon that the Potters have a Lordship, but I've always thought it appropriate- people tend to compare Draco and Ron, but I think Draco and James are much closer to examples of the same person on opposite sides of the war, although James matured much more effectively. I've always thought that was part of the reason Snape hates Harry: Snape went from an abused childhood to being a servant of a psychopathic murder while James transitioned from cocky bully to gallant war hero, and Snape resents him all the more for it.

Also, you may have noticed I'm posting a little more than I originally planned…scenes are kinda showing up in my head. I actually rewrote this a fair bit because originally it was driving me nuts, things weren't falling into place, until suddenly I realized that the goblins would have their own perspective on all these events, and that they would probably be a great objective 3rd party to give Harry a start on collecting information. Nobody in the magical realm is as likely to give good recommendations on where to learn the truth about the past, the present, and himself as the goblins.


End file.
